Opinion

Betsy Williamson, founder and managing director of Core-Asset Consulting, highlights the increasing importance of sustainable investing, spurred by the pandemic, and is urging those within the sector to upskill, or risk becoming defunct. Sustainable investing has “come of age” thanks to

Susannah Donaldson, legal director at Pinsent Masons, considers the impact of the pandemic on gender pay gap figures reported by large construction businesses. The Covid-19 pandemic has somewhat skewed gender pay gap (GPG) figures reported by large construction businesses for the year 2020

Angie De Vos, CEO of Women's Business Station, discusses her mission to help businesswomen up their game and change their lives. What is your purpose in life?

Jennifer Campbell, head of estate agency in DM Hall Baird Lumsden, the specialist rural department of DM Hall Chartered Surveyors, discusses the continued demand for rural properties of all shapes and sizes in Scotland. Even as the pandemic, with all its attendant anxieties, appears to be beginning

Andrew Lothian, insurance partner at global provider of integrated legal and business services, DWF, discusses Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting and their impact on injury claims in Scotland. Wednesday 30 June 2021 was a landmark day for anyone dealing with injury claims in Scotland. That was the dat

Linsdays lawyer David Rose has said investment interest in Dundee will intensify as a result of the Eden Project's "ambitious" plans for the city.

John Kiely, solicitor at Fragomen, looks at the prospect of more international arrivals in Scottish football due to the changes in the transfer rules. Money’s notoriously tight in Scottish football. So, could new transfer rules see clubs yield better value for money by signing the best talent

Iskander Fernandez, partner at law firm BLM, discusses HMRC's role in leading over 12,000 interventions into the use of UK Government COVID support schemes. Research by BLM into the various coronavirus-related fiscal support schemes revealed that at the close of Q1 2021, HM Revenue & Customs (HM

Tom Stocker, partner and head of corporate crime, Pinsent Masons, discusses the impact of the Bribery Act on the business community. As the Bribery Act 2010 approaches its 10th birthday on 1 July, it is widely recognised as an excellent piece of legislation which transformed the corporate compliance

Kirsty Greenhill, virtual finance function senior manager at Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB), discusses why location no longer hinders businesses' finance function. There is a big push to ‘shop local’ to help reduce the carbon footprint of our food and drink products from field to pl

Brian Robb, payroll manager at Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB), warns firms who utilised the furlough scheme to prepare for a compliance check. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) began in March 2020 and was a lifeline to many businesses.

Stuart Robertson, partner and head of employment law at Gilson Gray, discusses the end of furlough and highlights why redundancy is not the only option for employers. With 30 September signalling the termination of furlough support from the UK government, barring any change of heart, it is inevitabl

Alasdair Steele, head of Scotland commercial at Knight Frank, discusses the investment appeal of retail parks in the UK. About a year ago, at the height of the first lockdown, few people might have predicted that the humble retail park would be among the ‘winners’ – for lack of a b

Mark Brown, partner at Aberdeen chartered accountancy practice Meston Reid & Co, has warned businesses who have accessed schemes such as furlough and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to prepare for additional checks on their practices. HMRC is getting serious about pursuing frau

Scottish entrepreneur Lee Fitzpatrick offers suggestions of how businesses can focus on the longer-term in their digital marketing strategies. Who wouldn’t want better sales, bigger balance sheets and a quick hit turnaround in 2021? After the year or so we’ve all had, SMEs surely deserve